User blog:Angel Emfrbl/On books and Branch
So one thing I noticed with Branch and writers is they they don't really have this ability to grasp his character. So I'll talk about each book, leaving out Follow Your Art because Branch wasn't in it and is the only one so far his not in. A lot of books do this thing where they include Trolls that were named for the sake of inclusion bare in mind and Branch becomes one of them. A lot of authors understand in the books after Poppy he should be included as his in the role of "Protagonist's mate" and they will have a Poppy x Branch moment of have Poppy relying on him to do *something*. Cooper, Biggie, Smidge, DJ Suki and the twins will be included at times a lot more for name dropping purposes so Branch gets off a lot lighter as he can be a lot more fleshed out. So heres the thing, if you haven't seen the movie and you stumble upon these books, you wanna know the characters? Well Poppy is easy for many to write and the only thing they get wrong is they make her too happy or childish. Cooper swings from silly to stupid. Biggie tends to be just... There. Smidge rarely does anything and DJ's just mentioned for the same of being there doing DJ stuff. The twins get mentioned from time to time but their one note characters in the movie and often in these books. Its only Trolls: The Beat Goes on! that ever bothers to give the twins their own personas. But Branch gets things the roughest. So I'll start out with the worst portrayal Biggie and the Big Mix-Up. Its a Biggie story so Branch is a minor character in this one and serves the plot. He says a negative thing and is grumpy/angry at the state of Biggie's pod. This set off the whole plot because... It was a jerk comment. The writer Fiona Harris has written the worst possible version of Branch thus I've read this far and even has him say positive things... But only because "he suddenly remember Poppy told him to say them". So his not being sincere... He just comes off as a A-hole. Next move onto David Lewman who writes a number of Troll books including the novelisations. Great. He surely knows the characters after writing them? No. The issue is when he writes the characters... Its not enough. He takes little risks and a lot of the time there is only a hint of their unique characters. Its not as bad as Fiona Harris, but its bland at times. Next I'll move onto likely the only version of Branch that feels it was him. Satin & Chenille and the Fashion Show Disaster is written by Jaclyn Crupi who actually wrote a Branch story called Branch and the Party Rescue. Its fine, in that one its the other Trolls that were the problem and not Branch, and though he did get Branch's character... Its the twins story he truly got the moment to shine which is odd as thats not his book, thats the twins story. The story is basically about the Twins getting so excited that they forget who Branch is and even though Branch is trying to tell them that he doesn't like whats going on, they get more ideas and more excited. This is not helped by Poppy who is also getting excited as Branch has only ever been seen in his normal attire. Branch is really patient with the 3 and its not until they put him in a rainbow jumpsuit that really pushed things too far that he snaps and looses his temper. This causes the twins to have to come to terms that Branch is unique among the Trolls and they should have bared that in mind. Instead of putting him in the normal attire that would be okay for any other Troll, and expecting him to be fine. So Poppy goes off to get him back and the girls rethink things even down to Poppy being in their fashion show, which is what the book is about, so Poppy goes out with him so the focus isn't on Branch entirely. Which is a nice Poppy x Branch touch. So Jaclyn does a good job with Branch and honestly...? His been the only writer to do so. After the books I move onto the Trolls netflix series. Most stories feel like they make fun of Branch more then they do anything else. Its not until we get stories like Gem Day that they feel like their giving the guy some respect. Other times he is there to be Poppy's foil only. I get its made for kids, but they pretty much treat Branch as a joke. Its obivous in World Tour Branch has become more of a target for jokes but the Netflix series can take the cake. For a guy who likes to blend in... Why would he try to prove his the Prank Master or a better story teller? That feels so off. So thats my thoughts. It does make for a long and interesting wiki page, compared to even Poppy whose in EVERYTHING even when she doesn't have to be. But. Yeah its notable that not every writer knows how to handle Branch. Branch is more or less the "Straight man" of the Trolls, in comedy their someone who exists just for others to bounce their silliness and nonsense off of and make someone else funnier because their reactions are so unfunny. An example would be Beast Boy and Raven from the 2000s cartoon "Teen Titans", often Raven was funnier then BB because he would say something and Raven's criticism pointed out the flaw of the joke. Straight men are really hard for writers because they won't be much fun. Category:Blog posts